


The Exchange

by KittenKong



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe, And I want to post it, But I can't seem to get it all out?, But I wrote this, F/M, I mean, Mostly descriptive, Okay so I was working on this AU, Shippy if you Squint, Short, So oh well I suppose, Two-Shot, not really much plot, slight angst, there is one but you can't tell without background information
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 08:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6974641
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KittenKong/pseuds/KittenKong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The world was bright, bright, brightbrightbright, and it stung his eyes as he looked upwards. Everything was wrong – he was drowning in air, falling from the highest mountain, lying on a soft, warm bed, screaming his lungs out with no sound at all. He remembered this feeling; it was how he felt seconds before he faded from consciousness, just before life ceased making sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The world was bright, bright, brightbright _bright_ , and it stung his eyes as he looked upwards. Everything was wrong – he was drowning in air, falling from the highest mountain, lying on a soft, warm bed, screaming his lungs out with no sound at all. It all _ached_ and _burned_ and he couldn’t, wouldn’t, _shouldn’t_ breathe lest he not be able to get any air into his lungs ever again, but air was the only substance around him and he was being _ripped apart_ and his _chest…_

Vivisected… that must be what it was…

It was a strange experience, being in two places at once, yet not anywhere at all. He knew, logically, that he wasn’t dying, he was being pushed _back,_ but that didn’t stop his body, his very soul, from screaming in protest. He remembered this feeling; it was how he felt seconds before he faded from consciousness, just before life ceased making sense.

Life would never make sense again. Not when he knew what was out there. Not when he knew how a warrior felt. Not when he’d tasted freedom and felt love. He’d go back to being the perfect son; go back to playing a game of pretend for the rest of his life; go back to smiling for cameras and franticly trying to please his father. He’d go back to all that but life would never be the same. His fingers would itch for a weapon that was no longer there. His body would feel incomplete and broken. He’d never wish to be alone, and yet be isolated from the world, because the world was a dangerous place, says his father, but he doesn’t think his father knows danger like _he_ does.

He’d had a taste of adventure. It was sickly sweet – something so good is was just plain _awful_ – but he’d gotten used to, and now craved, it _and_ its bitter aftertaste.

Ash, ash, _ash…_

The pain of The Exchange was sudden, yet not unexpected. He didn’t quite understand how it worked – he’d never bothered to ask, as being pushed back this soon had been a rude surprise. His world had shattered as he had felt the tugging. He could only guess _she_ felt it also, because her smile – that wonderful, beautiful smile, had fallen off her face. She’d gripped his hand with strength he’d almost been convinced could keep them together, but she’d started to _drip_ through his fingers and fade away. Home wasn’t this house he was being forced back into, home wasn’t the house he’d lived in for several years now, _she_ was home, and he was being pulled away from her.

His body felt odd. His feet felt strange, and his lower back bare, and his ears were _wrong._ He was cold all over – artic water must have replaced his blood – but it wasn’t unpleasant. It was comforting, almost, as if he felt cold, he must still be alive. Feeling something, _anything_ was a sign of life, even if it was artic water, and his brain knew this well. His eyes fluttered closed as they did open. He watched as the last of her face melted from view and faded away and as blue skies were lost behind dropping lids, while also feeling his eyes open to brightbright _bright_ light, white and unnatural, _electric_ , and…

Everything stopped. Two pictures fizzled into just the one. He blinked as the weight on his chest faded away and he gasped for breath. He could feel the steady _risefallrisefall_ of his chest. His back was crushed onto a mattress – comfortable, expensive – and his limbs were tangled in sheets. The barely there breeze of an open window and _oh_ it was Spring. He felt heavy and tired but his eyes stayed open and his fingers twitched.

And Adrien woke up.


	2. Chapter 2

She was fallingfalling _falling_ fast and far and away from _no wait hold on please-_ nowhere, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe – _water, hard, soft, cold, boiling water_ – splashing against her skin and drowning her. Her lungs ached, her heart beat painfully against her ribcage and she gasped. Oxygen escaped her lungs and she gasped again, attempting to pull air back into her lungs and fix an absence that shocked her body into a panicked frenzy. Unnatural and cold and _sweltering,_ skin flash-frozen and turned to ash.

Her chest, oh God, her chest, it was like somebody was cutting her open, reaching in and just…

_Pulling…_

_Tugging…_

_Ripping…_

Please, no, please, make it just _stop_ -

It was bizarre. She was in-between two worlds, floating in the _cold-hot_ of the aether, everywhere and nowhere, splintered across dimensional rifts and whole at the same time and her body was _screaming_. She wasn’t – _couldn’t be, shouldn’t be, wouldn’t be_ – dying, but her body was hollering in protest, being pulled apart from every direction, and she _remembered_ this, remembered feeling like this _before_ her life at been irreversibly changed.

Her life would cease – not literally, she supposed, but it would. The life she had built in _There-Second-After_ was gone, and she’d never see it again, never had the chance to say goodbye to those whom she’d grown to love more than anything. Her life in _Original-First-Before_ was nice, if she remembered correctly. Loving parents, good friends, sunny days. But it would change now – it didn’t have a choice. She’d changed. She knew what it was like to wield blades and fight for her life. She knew what it was like to spit blood and bleed and bleed and bleed. She’d pretend – had to pretend, needed to pretend – to make family and friends feel comfortable, but the wind would make her tense, and the world would make her whirl.

She knew this. She could smell it through the _cold-hot_ aether.

She’d tasted the sweetness, and now she was addicted. Sweet and overbearing and the worst thing she’d ever tasted, but yet the thing she craved most. Beautiful and alluring, full of power and weakness.

Dust, dust, _dust…_

The pain was expected, but sudden, and gave her whiplash. She’d rarely questioned the inner workings of _There-Second-After,_ and she’d never gotten more than just _magic_ out of the explanation she’d received. She’d planned to ask later – she had, she swore – but had never quite gotten around to it, especially after she’d been pushed back sooner than expected. The world had turned to glass and _broken_ , and _he_ must have felt it too because his face – oh, his face, she’d miss that smirk and those eyes – fell faster than she’d ever seen before. She’d taken his hand and squeezed tight – it had been warm, and she’d never wanted to let go, even though the claws had scratched at her skin – but she started to _melt_ and his hand slipped through her fingers as he disappeared beside her. She’d never be able to sleep again, not knowing that there was a boy out there who might be searching for her – she’d need to be awake so if he passed her, she’d know. Home wouldn’t get away from her yet – she wouldn’t let him. He wouldn’t let himself, she knew.

Her body was broken, she decided, it had to be, because it was _wrong_. Her shoulders felt off, and her head was missing something, and her bones were too heavy. There was fire missing from her blood, and storms from her soul, but she was boiling, overheating, like lava in her arteries, napalm in her veins. She knew feeling meant life, but maybe life was overrated if feeling was _this_. Her eyes began to fuzz over, fluttering closed and open in the same moment, and her hand lost all warmth as his face became nothing more than _mush_. Blue skies faded away and her eyes were opening to colours and pinks and white, so strange and _rare_ and…

It stopped as suddenly as it had begun. _There-Second-After_ faded into _Original-First-Before_. She blinked slowly, arms heavy and _too short_ and chest thankfully free from pressure. Gasping and coughing and spluttering. Oxygen rushed to replace nothingness, the beat of her racing heart still hammering in her chest. She was lying on her side, she realised, curled up and missing most of her bed sheets. Cold, but not _cold-hot aether_. The air smelt of butter and baking and sugar, and her stomach flipped with nausea, fingers twitching, toes curling, every blink slow and deliberate.

And Marinette woke up.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I thought I'd continue this... at least a little. Attempting to get motivated, you know? Damn, getting back into writing is hard... little steps.  
> I was aiming for this to be a sort of duel story to the first chapter, so there are a lot of similar stuff being talked about in it.  
> Anyway, thank you for reading!
> 
> \- KK

**Author's Note:**

> I've been trying to write a... I hesitate to call it a Fantasy AU, for a long time. It's been one of those things that's in your head in perfect colour, but you can't get it out? But I wrote this a while back. It's based on one of my early ideas for the AU, and I thought why not share?  
> The AU itself is really complex, and I don't know... I just can't get the first chapter down. I figured I'd post something related to it and find out what people think.
> 
> I purposely haven't described much about what I'm planning, but I'd love to see if anybody likes this.  
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> \- KK


End file.
